Combat Survival Manual: Combat Survival manual, #1

By Mike Harland

This manual is for survival in a general sence and combat survival as not all aspects can be covered its only a basic view.  

This manual is syructured in a logical sequence based on the numerous considerations for preparing for and succedding in variuos survival scenarios 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Harland
• Release date: Feb 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224110957

Book preview

Fitness Considerations for Survival

Objectives

This section describes a basic calisthenics and cardiovascular program for survival. This program will also give you well-balanced all-round fitness.

The idea is to improve the student’s overall fitness by applying sound principles that allow the whole body to be conditioned. To improve the body’s ability to perform speed movements. To improve fluid movement, and this depends a lot on flexibility, it is important for the student to apply stretching to their own personal training as consistently as possible which should be if possible 15 to 20 minutes every day or at minimum 10 minutes 2-3 times per week.

This is not a comprehensive program, only a guideline to training for basic fitness to perform in a combat situation or general survival situation. For specific fitness such as pertaining to specific sports, your program will differ in that it will have coordination drills and specific technique drills for whatever sport you are training for.  

Benefits of Fitness and Conditioning

This section is to clarify how fitness and physical preparedness will benefit you and help to get you through a survival situation.

Cardiovascular fitness will give you more endurance in a prolonged combat situation; this will become apparent in a sparring session when practicing combative drills.

Strength will give your body resilience to strikes and impact. The best way to get stronger without getting too big is to do light weight exercises with high repetitions.

Flexibility will help recovery from training, minimize injury and help with fluid movement in your body tissues. It also influences your speed by allowing the muscles to relax and contract more forcefully. Flexibility also allows you to do a full movement when executing a technique.

Balance improves by doing balance related exercises. This exercise also helps develop your core muscles. Balance helps to keep you on your feet in a combat situation and is important for high kicks, throws or takedowns, most striking techniques, and walking on rough terrain.

Power exercises help with power output with regards to fighting, or e.g., just running quickly after prey when hunting when you might have just shot at the animal and maybe wounded it.

Specific Exercises for Combat (Basic Format)

Body weight exercises will develop maximum power without developing any part of your body out of proportion.

Light high repetition weights will improve strength and help with muscle endurance when striking or using an axe, carrying a backpack etc.

Power exercises will help strengthen your core and give you the ability to use your large internal muscles for striking. Do power exercises on Monday and Friday to give your body a rest in between. Do light high rep or specific strength on other days e.g., cardio such as swim /run.

Sprints are a more specialized exercise and appropriate if you are going to a combat environment 

Specific to combat survival:

50-meter sprint (this has a specific purpose)

100 or 200 meters

400 meters sprints (for combat this will take you out of effective range of the average infantry man). This applies to survival in a war zone not in a basic survival situation.

Dead lifts are for raw power to lift heavy weights like a heavy backpack, tree, etc.

Squats: strong legs are needed for walking with a backpack, especially long distances, or for carrying someone in an emergency.

Dumbbell weights: swung at various levels and arcs stimulate core muscles and connective muscles, sinews, and tendons for punching, carrying weights such as weapons, heavier tools like an axe, etc.

Plyometrics: develop power and the ability to perform fast movements.

Core Muscle Development

Basic bodyweight exercises should be done every day or at least Monday to Friday; this means 4 to 6 days per week is a guideline. Basic bodyweight calisthenics exercise, if done at a very intense level, can be done over 3-4 days a week for a sustainable program with good performance improvements. Cardio can be done depending on time available and fitness level for 3 to 6 days per week. This builds lung and heart strength and is very important in any SHTF type scenario.

The repetitions of body weight exercises (calisthenics) depend on your level of fitness. Basic body weight exercise is mentioned below. The ones listed here are the core body weight exercises as there are more exercises than these that you can do. Basic level would be 10 to 15 reps per exercise and an intermediate level would be from 20 to 30 reps (roughly) and anything from 40 to 80 repetitions is advanced (professional athlete/serious survivor). Except for chins where 10 is good and 15 to 20 is very good. When you first start doing chins only do 1 or 2 full chins at a time, then rest or do another exercise. Do this till you have done about 10 repetitions in total

The following movements can be done with explosiveness to get a plyometric effect.

Pushups wide, this can be done with a push off the floor with explosive movement for plyometric effect

advanced push can be done in handstand positioning

Pushups narrow

advanced push can be done in handstand positioning

Dips

Sit-ups (do quickly)

Chins (a.k.a. pull up) narrow body vertical

Chins body parallel to ground

Squats

Wide

Narrow

Lunges are good for the glutes, for sprinting and general fitness

Picture of an advanced lunge (a.k.a. Bulgarian split squat):

All movement exercises should be applied every day for at least 15 to 30 minutes depending on your level of fitness. Once your basic strength and fitness is developed after 6 months or 1 year then you can start with plyometrics.

Example jumping off a box and onto another or just off the box with a small jump after landing:

Repetitions

For muscle endurance the exercise would normally involve a weight such as a dumbbell weight, and ‘basic level’ repetitions will be 15 to 20, ‘intermediate’ will be 20 to 40 and more than 40 will be ‘advanced’ level. This does, however, depend on the amount of weight you are using and your level of conditioning.

Repetitions for power exercises will normally only be 5 to 8 repetitions as it puts a strain on the body, because it is a maximal effort. This is very important to build tendon (muscle to bone) and ligament (connecting bone to bone), over a joint.

Guidelines For Exercising

Warm up before training hard, this can be a long walk of 1-2km or a very slow run 1-2 km or light skipping. In a gym, you can use a treadmill to cover this distance conveniently.

Stretch lightly before exercise with ballistic stretches such as leg swings back to front or side to side, at the beginning; and harder at the end of exercise.

Drink enough water before and after exercise to stay hydrated. But do not overdo water as your body does not need as much as has been suggested over last 60-70 years.

Breath out on the effort and breathe through the nose where possible. You can inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.

Try not to eat before training because when the training gets harder you will feel uncomfortable and will not be able to perform. The body will be busy with digestion instead of sending blood to the muscles.

Power exercises should be done once or twice a week and the rest of the time light high repetition.

All exercises should be done with full movement. This is so you work the whole muscle and not just the short-range muscle.

Eat fruit salads and vegetables to have minerals for muscle function and carbohydrates for energy. Protein to repair muscles can be eggs, fish, chicken, steak, as well as a protein drink. Prefer protein from whole foods that are grown naturally without hormones, sprays, toxins, and other toxic substances. Make sure it is not GMO as these GMO plants are toxic.

Monitoring Your Fitness

This measures your Cardio Fitness:

Taking your RHR (resting heart rate) indicates if you are improving. When it lowers you know your heart is getting stronger.

If there is a sudden increase in heart rate by 10 to 12 beats it could be over training or an infection such as a cold.

Take your HR at the same time each time e.g., morning or evening. Try to make sure the situation is the same. Do not take after running and then in the morning as this will make it vary greatly.

A resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute or less is good. This indicates your heart is working efficiently and is not under strain and compared to an unfit person because your heart is beating 100 000 beats per day less. The average is between 74 to 84 for unfit people. 

A healthy person could have a blood pressure of 120-140 systolic over 65-80 diastolic depending on your genetic predisposition. Do not stress if your blood pressure varies slightly as this is perfectly normal. You do not need to give the pharmaceutical companies money for a naturally acceptable phenomenon.

Measuring HR (heart rate) to see its response toto stress of exercise and external stimulation such as an attack.

Increase in your ability to do repetitions will indicate your increased strength which is your ability to do more work. This is not so much about power but more about muscle endurance and